{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Mathematical 7","provider_url":"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7","title":"Sport is life and life is sport! - Mathematical 7","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"gYQceb4w4G\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/sport-is-life-and-life-is-sport\/\">Sport is life and life is sport!<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/sport-is-life-and-life-is-sport\/embed\/#?secret=gYQceb4w4G\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Sport is life and life is sport!&#8221; &#8212; Mathematical 7\" data-secret=\"gYQceb4w4G\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Sports_Life3.jpg","thumbnail_width":404,"thumbnail_height":356,"description":"The Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast of Australia is rounding off this weekend. Whilst the games have been a feast of sports they have also being a painful reminder of our country\u2019s past as well as its current state. Historically, the commonwealth games remind of our enslavement in a colonial past, a sad chapter in our history that we want to forget in a hurry when the most populous Black nation on earth became one of over 50 other countries conquered and controlled by the British empire, a tiny island state located thousands of miles away in a corner of Europe that dominated the world. That experience was a mental prison because, even in 2018, 58 years after Nigeria was released from that \u2018jail\u2019, the country still fails to reflect its original potentials and capability. Next week we shall take stock of the countries performance. The results are a shame! Were Nigeria to be a patient in a hospital, the country\u2019s condition would be described as critically ill. We have not done well as the biggest representative of the Black race in the world. That is reflected in our sports performance, even at the commonwealth games. That is heavily weighing on my mind again as I write this. We still do not see sport for what it truly is \u2013 much more than recreation and medals! Can\u2019t we see clearly what is going on in most parts of the rest of the world? Did we not just watch some performances of our athletes naturally gifted but whose performances were just a mirror of the state of our country? We should be doing better even as a country but we are not, obviously. Yet some officials will soon return to the country, display a few medals as \u2018achievement\u2019 by a country whose athletes should have mounted the victory podium so often during the games that the rest of the world would have been mouthing our national anthem by now because of repetition! What this confirms once again is that we do not understand. We do not see the futility in separating any aspect of our lives from the whole of lives; that the parts and the whole go together like Siamese twins, inseparable! That our sport is a metaphor for the health of our country. In 1977, I visited China for the first time. It was a Third World country like Nigeria. The evidence was everywhere. Only in the games of ping pong and gymnastics was China acknowledged as a global force in sports. In that same year, Nigeria was a rising star, powered by huge human and mineral resources and roaring to emerge as Africa\u2019s superpower in every field including sport.41 years after that shared status, China has rapidly moved on to become an authentic global superpower, with the world\u2019s second-largest economy, reflected also in a growing army of athletes in most sports. Check the records and see where China ended up on the tables in the last three or four Olympic games! On the other hand, Nigeria\u2019s retarded growth is aptly captured in its dwindling fortunes in virtually all sports. We have just seen this reflected again at the Commonwealth games, and it hurts!"}